Administration

A single Application Server installation on a server can encompass multiple
instances. A group of one or more instances that are administered by a single
Administration Server is called a domain. Grouping server
instances into domains permits different people to independently administer
the groups.

You can use a single-instance domain to create a “sandbox”
for a particular developer and environment. In this scenario, each developer
administers his or her own application server, without interfering with other
application server domains. A small development group may choose to create
multiple instances in a shared administrative domain for collaborative development.

In a deployment environment, an administrator can create domains based
on application and business function. For example, internal Human Resources
applications may be hosted on one or more servers in one Administrative domain,
while external customer applications are hosted on several administrative
domains in a server farm.

The Application Server supports virtual server capability for web applications.
For example, a web application hosting service provider can host different
URL domains on a single Application Server process for efficient administration.